In the last few years, private owners and caretakers of exotic and wild animals have been repeatedly attacked over and over again.
The attacks, however, are not inflicted by the animals they love, cherish and deeply care for.

The attacks on exotic animal owners come from extreme animal rights (AR) groups and uninformed legislators attacking personal freedoms of private citizens to choose what kind of animals to own and love.

Private exotic animal owners are being discriminated against because the animals they choose to share their life with are not typical domestic animals.

Cases of exotic animal abuse or attacks on humans are extremely rare, but just like any very rare incident attract lots of negative media attention.

American public sees good examples of human parenting or domestic animal care everyday and therefore doesnâ€™t overreact to an isolated child or domestic animal abuse by asking for total bans on human reproduction or domesticsâ€™ ownership.
The majority of US, or even world media, is only interested in sensationalized â€˜tiger or python attackâ€™ stories. The loving and caring side of the majority of exotic animal ownership is being mostly ignored.

Too often exotic animals are being surrendered not because the owners no longer want or love them. Too often owners have to move and the new locality doesnâ€™t allow exotics.
Too frequently their cherished pets are being banned in their current location, with no grandfather clause, or the cost of complying with new insurance requirement is so extremely high, that only very few can afford it.

Federal government already passed Captive wildlife safety act, that became a law in September 2007, that bans big cat pet owners from taking their cherished pets with them across state lines for any reason, be it household move or veterinary care.

Just like with the big cat version, US Fish and Wildlife,Â the very agency that would be implementing it, is opposing it.
Benito Perez, Chief of the U.S.Fish and Wildlife Serviceâ€™s (Service) Office of Law Enforcement testified on March 11, 2008:

Prohibiting the interstate transport of legally owned non-human primates would also have several negative consequences. Some individuals with disabilities currently use trained nonhuman primates as service animals. H.R. 2964 would prohibit these individuals from traveling out of state with their service animals. Additionally, should individuals who legally own nonhuman primates as pets move out of state, they would be required to leave the animals behind, potentially increasing the number of non-human primates being set free, needing to be placed in appropriate homes, or ending up in the custody of humane shelters and sanctuaries.

Why is our government passing these un-American bills, listening to extreme animal rights, AR, groups with no hands on animal experience, instead of listening to the experts in the filed?

Many exotic animals live longer then their domestic counterparts, and it is not easy to plan 20 plus years ahead. Some of the laws being passed nowadays are so ridiculous, they would have been unthinkable and treated as a joke 20 years ago when many current owners acquired their pets. How do you plan, prepare for and envision laws and bans that are possibly unconstitutional?

Exotic animals get very attached to the people who raised them.
It is unfair for happy and loved exotic pets to be taken out of their homes not because they were abused, but simply because some bureaucrat fell for animal rights propaganda and passed another useless, unfair and tax money-wasting bill.

American public needs to stop this avalanche of legislation that is an attack on exotic animal owners and property rights. This legislation is also abusive to the very animals these bans pretend to protect. It is time to stop punishing loving owners and their animals by forcing them out of the arms of their caring owners. Captive wild and exotic animals are not a public safety issue.

8 users commented in " Exotic Animal Owners Under Attack. "

Very well said. Americans need to realize the threat that animal rights group are, not just to exotics, but domestic animals as wells. Exotics are just an easier target.

We need to preserve our rights to keep the animals of our choice. Exotics in the US are captive bred as laws prohibit their import so they don’t affect wild populations.

Amy said,

in April 18th, 2008 at 10:44 pm

Yes, very well understood and appreciated. Very few good articles- newsworthy things- unless it is bad. So many good things very few even hear about. Just day to day life with them is ignored because it doesn’t ‘sell’. Sad to say the least and hope futur generations don’t have a reality to live based on something other than REALITY.

Big Cat Rescue said,

in May 5th, 2008 at 12:20 pm

The Captive Wild Animal Safety Act protect big cats from people who try to make pets of them and is the best thing to happen to big cats in my 15 years of experience. The very notion that someone can be a “responsible” owner of a lion, tiger or even a bobcat does not take into consideration the fact that these animals are hard wired to roam hundreds of miles. Breeding them for lives in cages is inherently cruel. Big Cat Rescue hopes to put itself out of business by educating the public about why these animals should not be used as pets and props so that there is no longer a need to rescue them from the abuse.

In response to “Big Cat Rescue” – you are pushing for them to become extinct. Punnish irresponsible owners, which occur in ALL animals, not the responsible ones. I have seen some great enclosures of exotic pets, many of which SURPASS zoo standards, in private homes. The CWSA does NOT protect big cats from people owning them, but from people TRAVELING/MOVING with them. Which is actually WORSE for the animal. YOU KNOW first hand that many individuals have been FORCED to give up their big cats because they needed to move to another state and could not take the animal with them, or simply because they became illegal in their area with NO GRANFATHER clause, NOT because the owner no longer wanted them. Should their be laws regarding ownership of big cats, fair regulation regarding their husbandry, and requirements for them to be captive bred? Absolutely. Should there be bans? NO, Absolutely not.

Your tigers give you so much joy. You can’t deny that fact, or else you would not be doing what you are doing. Why can you own them responsibly but no one else? If lions/tigers were only in the wild they would become extinct. I for one believe a healthy captive life is better that extinction!

RULion said,

in May 8th, 2008 at 9:56 am

Where is the proof that big cats, who can sleep up to 18-20 hours a day, are, after generations of being bred in captivity,”hard-wired to roam hundreds of miles”? There is no need for a captive born cat to travel for miles to look for food and water when all his needs are met.

U-R-Lion said,

in May 8th, 2008 at 10:47 am

Big Cat Rescue, maybe you should actually READ the Act that you are so strongly supporting, Eileen is right it doesn’t stop them from being pets only from being transported over state lines. This will only INCREASE breeding WITHIN the states and the BLACK MARKET trade. Also in the state of Florida and others BIG Cats can’t be pets anyway!! I know of NOONE that has a PET TIGER. They all like YOU became “sanctuaries” so they could have their “pets”, so tell me what’s it going to change?? How can it be called a “SAFTEY” act when it will only cause harm to the animals?

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